Stachowski Brand to Open Georgetown Butcher Shop

After years of success selling meat at local farmers markets, Jamie and Josef Stachowski, the father-son team behind Stachowski Brand Charcuterie is preparing to open a butcher shop in Georgetown on the corner of P and 28th Street.

The deli-style market shop, tentatively titled Valentine Meats, will reside in the former location of Griffin Market, which closed down and moved to South Carolina last February due to a spike in rental rates.

Josef will be the owner of the shop, taking the reins from his father Jamie, an acclaimed sausage maker who was recently featured on Discovery Channel’s “Meat America.”

“We’ve thought about doing this for a long time,” Josef said as he took a break from grilling sausages at the Rose Park farmers market last Wednesday. “The markets are always busy, and people are always asking ‘where is your store?’ For the longest time, I’ve had to say that we don’t actually have one.”

According to Josef, the Georgetown location was not specifically selected in advance, but he does think it will be a good fit.

“Georgetown is a nice place to be,” he said. “It’s got a homey kind of local feel to it, something you definitely wouldn’t get at a place like H Street. It gives it a more authentic feel.”

Tom Papadopoulos, a real estate agent and restaurant broker who helped the Stachowskis obtain a 10-year lease on the property, said he thinks the Georgetown location is ideal, and that “people in Georgetown would really love it.”

Stachowski Brand sausages are made fresh straight from the source. The butchers use pork raised by Amish farmers and season their products with special herbs and spices. They plan on serving an array of their famous sausages including chicken, Wisconsin bratwurst, duck, turkey and sweet Italian pork sausages, as well as a small menu of sandwiches.

Despite some reservations, Josef is looking forward to running his own shop.

“Right now, I’m excited,” he said, “but like everything else, I might get bored with it before too long. “But,” he continued, “it’ll be more personal than what we do now. I’ll get to interact with people more.”

Josef said that running a family business with his dad leads to some unique workplace dynamics.

“I really don’t have a traditional boss,” he said. “I have space and freedom. But, at the same time, it’s a lot harder to hear your dad tell you what to do. It’s a power struggle for sure, but we keep each other in check.”

Josef hopes that Georgetown and the wider D.C. community will flock to
their shop in the same way they flocked to the popular Griffin Market.

“Hopefully, we can serve the community and they will embrace us,” he said.

Although the shop does not have an official opening date, the Stachowskis hope to have the operation up and running “in the next couple of months,” Papadopoulos said.

Until then, curious foodies can try out the unique Stachowski Brand at local farmers markets, including the Rose Park, Palisades and Falls Church markets. For more information on Stachowski Brand Charcuterie, visit http://stachowskibrand.com.